Republic of Mining

Wabush mine pension fight continues, says Labrador West MHA – by Katherine Hobbs (CBC News Newfoundland and Labrador – March 11, 2016)

March 14, 2016

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/

Labrador West MHA, Graham Letto, says the fight continues for pensioners affected by the area’s downturn, but work will also have to be done to diversity the economy.

It’s been two years since Wabush Mines shut down and communities are struggling.

“We have stepped up to the plate with Wabush as a government … we’re working very hard to find some resolutions to the issues that exist up there, especially around the pension plans, finding a new buyer for Wabush Mines,” said Letto.

When the financially troubled mine, owned by Cliffs Natural Resources, closed in 2014, pension plans were underfunded by about $47 million dollars.

Beaten and discarded, Congo street children are strangers to mining boom – by Aaron Ross (Reuters U.S. – March 13, 2016)

March 14, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

KINSHASA – Kevin Lusongo has been on the streets since he was 11. He sleeps on a piece of cardboard in an unlit parking lot in a poor neighborhood of Kinshasa, behind trucks he hopes can shield him from view.

Some nights he’s unlucky. Recently police came looking for a stolen handbag and beat him up when they didn’t find it, said the boy, who’s now 14. Then there are the older children.

“Often when you sleep, the others come and burn your feet with (flaming) plastic bags,” he said. “The oldest will see you and take your money. If you complain, they beat you severely.”

Kevin has the gaunt frame of a boy unused to nutritious meals since he was turned out by his family. He works odd jobs, begs and picks through trash to survive.

2016 PDAC Bill Dennis Award Winners: Bruce Channel Discovery Team – Robert Cudney, Stephen Roman and John Whitton

March 10, 2018March 12, 2016

PDAC 2016 – Bill Dennis Award – Bruce Channel from PENDA Productions on Vimeo.

http://www.pendaproductions.com/ This video was produced by PENDA Productions, a full service production company specializing in Corporate Communications with a focus on Corporate Responsibility.

(L to R) Edward Thompson, PDAC Awards Committee Chair; Stephen Roman; Robert Cudney; John Whitton (Photo by Envisiondigitalphoto.com)

This award, named for a former president of the association, honours individuals who have accomplished one or both of the following: made a significant mineral discovery; made an important contribution to the prospecting and/or exploration industry.

Bruce Channel Discovery Team: For the discovery of gold at Bruce Channel in the Red Lake Gold Camp, Ontario.

Robert Cudney, Stephen Roman and John Whitton receive this award for their Bruce Channel discovery in the heart of the well-explored Red Lake Gold Camp in northwestern Ontario. It was discovered by Exall Resources Limited, which later became Gold Eagle Mines Ltd. after merging with Southern Star Resources Inc. With strategic input from professional geologist John Whitton, the deposit was estimated to contain approximately 14.1 to 16.5 million tonnes of gold, at a grade of roughly 20-25 grams per tonne. grams per tonne.

2016 PDAC Distinguished Service Award Winner: Patricia Sheahan

March 10, 2018March 12, 2016

PDAC 2016 – Distinguished Service Award – Patricia Sheahan from PENDA Productions on Vimeo.

http://www.pendaproductions.com/ This video was produced by PENDA Productions, a full service production company specializing in Corporate Communications with a focus on Corporate Responsibility.

PDAC President Rod Thomas and Patricia Sheahan (Photo by Envisiondigitalphoto.com)

This award recognizes an individual who has achieved one or more of the following: made a substantial contribution to mineral exploration and mining development over a number of years; given considerable time and effort to the PDAC; made outstanding contributions to the mineral industry in the field of finance, geology, geophysics, geochemistry research, or a related activity.

Patricia Sheahan: For her unique and outstanding contribution and dedication to Canada’s minerals industry.

Patricia Sheahan, or Pat as she is better known, has a long and unique career in the minerals industry. As a leader and entrepreneur, she founded a worldwide technical information service for exploration companies focused on diamonds, base and precious metals. The subscription service, which began in 1972, has been indispensable for those in the field looking to make the next diamond discovery.

2016 PDAC Special Achievement Award Winners: The Bjorkman Family

March 10, 2018March 12, 2016

PDAC 2016 – Special Achievement Award – Bjorkman Family from PENDA Productions on Vimeo.

http://www.pendaproductions.com/ This video was produced by PENDA Productions, a full service production company specializing in Corporate Communications with a focus on Corporate Responsibility.

From time to time, the PDAC presents a Special Achievement Award that recognizes exceptional contributions to the mineral industry.

The Bjorkman Family: For their multi-generational dedication to geology, prospecting and diversity.

Bjorkman Prospecting is a long-standing Ontario-based prospecting company that has worked in locations all across Canada as well as internationally. Encouraged by his father, Karl Bjorkman started prospecting around 1990 and saw his business grow to include claim staking, exploration project management and technical support.

2016 PDAC Viola R. MacMillan Award Winner: Silver Wheaton Corp.

March 10, 2018March 12, 2016

PDAC 2016 – Viola MacMillan – Silver Wheaton from PENDA Productions on Vimeo.

http://www.pendaproductions.com/ This video was produced by PENDA Productions, a full service production company specializing in Corporate Communications with a focus on Corporate Responsibility.

(L to R) Robert Schafer, PDAC President; Randy Smallwood, President and CEO Silver Wheaton Corp. (Photo by Envisiondigitalphoto.com)

This award, which is named in honour of the PDAC’s longest serving president, is given to (a) person(s) who has/have demonstrated leadership in management and financing for the exploration and development of mineral resources.

Silver Wheaton Corp.: For developing new and innovative business strategies that are a leading example for other companies and junior miners to follow.

Chap Mercantile changed its name to Silver Wheaton Corporation in July 2004, becoming a new and innovative type of publicly- traded company within the mining industry. Silver Wheaton’s business strategy portrays characteristics of a metal producer, a royalty owner, and has features of a corporate finance group.

2016 PDAC Thayer Lindsley Award Winners: Cukaru Peki Discovery Team – Reservoir Minerals & Freeport McMoRan

March 10, 2018March 12, 2016

PDAC 2016 – Thayer Lindsley Award – Reservoir Minerals & Freeport from PENDA Productions on Vimeo.

http://www.pendaproductions.com/ This video was produced by PENDA Productions, a full service production company specializing in Corporate Communications with a focus on Corporate Responsibility.

Reservoir Minerals & Freeport McMoRan - Cukaru Peki — Reservoir Minerals & Freeport McMoRan – Cukaru Peki (Photo by Envisiondigitalphoto.com)

This award recognizes an individual or a team of explorationists credited with a recent significant mineral discovery anywhere in the world.

Cukaru Peki Discovery Team/Reservoir Minerals & Freeport McMoRan: For the team’s discovery of high-grade copper-gold deposits in Serbia which may prompt explorers to look for a new class of mineral deposit.

In July 2012, a joint venture of subsidiaries of Reservoir Minerals Inc. and Freeport-McMoRan Inc. announced the discovery of what became known as the Cukaru Peki copper-gold deposit in the heart of Serbia’s Bor mining camp, which has been operating for more than 100 years.

2016 PDAC Skookum Jim Award Winner: Darrell Beaulieu

March 10, 2018March 12, 2016

PDAC 2016 – Skookum Jim Award – Darrell Beaulieu from PENDA Productions on Vimeo.

http://www.pendaproductions.com/ This video was produced by PENDA Productions, a full service production company specializing in Corporate Communications with a focus on Corporate Responsibility.

(L to R) James Siddorn, SRK Consulting Canada Inc.; Darrell Beaulieu, President and CEO of Denendeh Investments Incorporated and DEMCo Ltd. (Photo by Envisiondigitalphoto.com)

Recipients of this award have demonstrated exceptional achievement and/or service in a Canadian Aboriginal-run service business for the Canadian mining industry or a Canadian Aboriginal exploration or mining company, or have made a significant individual contribution to the mining industry.

Darrell Beaulieu: For his innovation, hard work and dedication to the minerals industry in his community.

Darrell Beaulieu is a leader and highly-respected member of his community who served three terms as Chief of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation. His work in the mineral industry began early in exploration, staking mineral claims and working on a number of exploration projects in the Northwest Territories (NWT).

Iron ore glut seen easing path to China nod for Vale-Fortescue tie-up – by Sonali Paul and Michael Martina (Reuters U.S. – March 10, 2016)

March 11, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

MELBOURNE/BEIJING – How times have changed. In 2008, when top global miner BHP Billiton tried to take over iron ore rival Rio Tinto, China raced to snap up a $14 billion stake in Rio, to block the deal and thwart any tightening of iron ore supplies.

Two years later, Chinese regulators helped nix a $116 billion iron ore joint venture between the two giants. Now, faced with an iron ore glut and a struggling steel industry, Beijing is expected to take a kinder view of a proposed tie-up involving the world’s largest iron ore miner, sources say.

Brazil’s Vale and Australia’s Fortescue Metals Group this week announced they are in talks over a joint venture to blend up to 100 million tonnes of their iron ore – about 10 percent of China’s imports of the steel-making ingredient.

Nickel Can’t Find a Silver Lining – by Biman Mukherji (Wall Street Journal – March 7, 2016)

March 11, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/

NEW DELHI—Amid gloomy times for commodities, few are more beaten down than nickel. While metals like copper and aluminum trade at low levels, they are at least still up from depths reached during the global financial crisis, especially after a rally in prices in recent weeks.

Not so nickel, a key ingredient in stainless steel, which slumped to a 13-year low last month and remains well below its prices in 2008 and 2009 despite a partial recovery since then.

The slump has confounded market participants who had expected nickel prices to remain buoyant for some time after Indonesia, the world’s largest supplier of nickel ore, imposed an export ban in 2014 that is still in place.

Cobalt: the backstory of a technology metal – by Robin Bromby (InvestorIntel.com – March 11, 2016)

March 11, 2016

http://investorintel.com/

It has certainly been cobalt’s week. John Petersen has authored two imposing posts (PT 1, PT 2). Now Christopher Ecclestone has underlined the worries that should be concerning Tesla and other end-users about the possibility that the supplies of lithium and cobalt on which they are depending for their lithium-ion batteries might just not be there when they put in their orders (and he cites the fact that London Metal Exchange warehouses have just 614 tonnes of cobalt in their care).

This is a very important story for InventorIntel given that cobalt is being seen increasingly as a technology metal and a “green” one, the latter reflecting its battery applications.

There is an additional consideration: the availability of cobalt for batteries is complicated by (a) the looming shortage of the metal and (b) the competing demand for it.

Fukushima five years on, and the lessons we failed to learn – by Dave Sweeney (The Guardian – March 10, 2016)

March 11, 2016

http://www.theguardian.com/

Five years ago this week the world held its breath, crossed its fingers and learnt a new word. Fukushima went from being the name of a provincial Japanese city to becoming global shorthand for a costly and contaminating nuclear disaster.

Fukushima means “fortunate island” but the region’s luck melted down along with the reactors on March 11, 2011. The subsequent system failure, meltdown and uncontrolled release of large volumes of radiation at the Tokyo Electric Power Corporation’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex has become one of the defining events of our age.

It was a game-changer that highlighted the urgent need for the game to change. As the country that supplied the fuel that made it happen, the events at Fukushima held – and still hold – profound implications for Australia.

[Integra Gold] Quebec gold miner pays $1M to scavenger hunt winners (Business Network News – March 10, 2016)

March 11, 2016

http://www.bnn.ca/

Andrew Bell interviews Integra Gold’s George Salamis and Guy Desharnais of SGS Geostat

Integra Gold (ICG.V -4.4%) could have used high-paid consultants to find new deposits buried in the digital archive of mining and exploration data it acquired as part of a deal last year. Instead, the Quebec-based explorer took to the internet offering a million-dollar pay day to anyone who could help them pinpoint promising drill sites.

More than 1,300 people from 90 countries signed up for the challenge and poured over more than six terabytes of data.

Commodities slump might give South Africa ‘breathing space’ to prepare for next uptick – by Samantha Herbst (MiningWeekly.com – March 11, 2016)

March 11, 2016

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – It has generally been acknowledged among industry insiders that, compared with its global counterparts, Africa’s mining industry has significantly underperformed in recent years, despite market challenges and the continued commodity slump impacting on the global mining industry.

Moreover, South Africa – once considered the darling of mining in Africa and a gateway to the continent by investors – has been scapegoated as one of Africa’s primary underachievers.

It was also acknowledged by – among others – Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane at this year’s Investing in African Mining Indaba that, owing to a lack of reliable infrastructure and ongoing regulatory uncertainty. South Africa missed the boat on the last commodity supercycle.